Griffey makes history as Reds pound Braves

Jul 17, 2007 - 4:27 AM
ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Ken Griffey, Jr. made some history and the
Cincinnati Reds wasted no time helping Bobby Livingston to his
second major league win.

Griffey smashed a three-run homer and Livingston hurled five
effective frames and helped his own cause with four hits to lead
the Reds to a 10-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves in the opener of
a three-game set on Monday.

Griffey, a future Hall of Famer, entered Monday tied with Hall
of Famer Frank Robinson for sixth place on the all-time home run
list with 586 homers.

In his second at-bat, the 13-time All-Star broke the tie by
smashing his 24th homer of the season off reliever Oscar
Villareal for a 5-0 Cincinnati edge.

"The most important thing is that we got the win," an
understated Griffey said. "That's something we haven't done a
lot of in the second half."

Cincinnati wasted no time getting to Atlanta starter Kyle Davies
(4-8), who failed to record an out in the first inning.

Ryan Freel led off the game with a single and advanced to second
on a walk by Scott Hatteberg. Griffey followed with a single
to load the bases.

A wild Davies, who hurled just seven of his 22 pitches for
strikes, issued bases-loaded free passes to Adam Dunn and Jose
Valentin to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

"It's obviously not the way you want to go out there and pitch,"
Davies said. "I dug us a pretty big hole and we never got out
of it."

Davies, who entered this one sporting a gaudy lifetime 6.08 ERA
- the worst mark of any active starting pitcher who has hurled
more than 200 innings - allowed two runs and two hits while
walking three.

In the process, he became the first Atlanta pitcher to leave a
start without retiring a batter since Greg Maddux on September
22, 2001. Maddux left that one due to an elbow injury.

The last time a healthy Atlanta starter left in similar
circumstances was Len Barker on September 18, 1985, against the
Reds. The 23-year-old Davies was just two years old.

"He couldn't really locate his fastball," said Braves manager
Bobby Cox, who could not remember the last time he yanked a
healthy starting pitcher before he retired a batter. "He fell
behind on everybody and was way, way, way off the mark."

The normally reliable Braves defense was essentially as
atrocious as the Atlanta righthander.

In the third, Edwin Encarnacion led off the frame with a single
and advanced to second fielding error by Yunel Escobar.
Livingston followed with a bunt single down the third base line.

With no one covering the plate, an alert Encarnacion scored all
the way from second base to give Cincinnati a 6-0 edge.

Two innings later, the Reds added two more unearned runs thanks
to Edgar Renteria's fielding error. An unearned run following
Scott Thorman's throwing error in the ninth pushed Cincinnati's
run total to double digits at 10-3.

Atlanta was equally as feeble at the plate. The Braves
squandered bases-loaded opportunities in the fifth and seventh,
stranded 12 runners on base and were a miserable 1-for-14 with
runners in scoring position.

"We just didn't play good all around," Jeff Francoeur said. "It
was a bad game."

An agitated Francoeur was ejected in the fifth inning by plate
umpire Angel Hernandez after he threw his bat and helmet
violently to the ground on a disputed strike three call with the
bases loaded.

"I was just frustrated," Francoeur said. "It was a big
opportunity to get our team back in the ballgame. When he called
that, it upset me and took me over the top."

Quite fittingly, the game was delayed for 11 minutes after
Francoeur's outburst when the power to a bank of lights down the
left field line failed.

Andruw Jones drove all three runs for the Braves, who had a four
game winning streak snapped.